Polygon Riddle

My first is in shape and also in space;

My second is in line and also in place;

My third is in point and also in line;

My fourth is in operation but not in sign;

My fifth is in angle but not in degree;

My sixth is in glide but not symmetry;

My seventh in in round but not in square;

My last is in patterns you see everywhere;

My whole is a polygon, regular not wide;

But what is the sum of the angles inside?

A Mathematics Lesson Starter Of The Day


Topics: Starter | Geometry | Riddles | Shape

  • Transum,
  •  
  • This form of a riddle or word puzzle used to be more popular than it is today. The structure of the riddle is that each line (the first seven lines in this case) gives a clue to a single letter of the answer. The last line (the eighth line in this case) then gives a clue to the complete answer.
    You can work out from line one that the first letter of the answer occurs in the word ‘shape’ and also in the word ‘space'. By process of elimination you can see that the first letter of the answer must be S, P, A or E.
    Work through the other lines of the riddle to determine what the other letter possibilities and then you are well on your way to solving the riddle.
  • Christine Oldham, City College Coventry
  •  
  • Third letter - in point but NOT in line to make septagon.

    [Transum: Good try Christine but the answer is not septagon]
  • Andy Rickard, Horsforth
  •  
  • As well as correcting line 3 to NOT, I would also change line one to NOT so it spells heptagon rather than septagon which is a mixture of latin and greek. I also changed operation to tangent and corrected the grammar.

    [Transum: Good try Andy but the answer is not heptagon nor is it septagon]
  • Adrian, Virtual School Victoria
  •  
  • I am not sure if this is correct but I have the shape as a [????????] meaning that the angle sum inside would be [???] degrees.

    [Transum: You are absolutely correct Adrian but you answers have been hidden so as not to spoil the fun for others]

How did you use this starter? Can you suggest how teachers could present or develop this resource? Do you have any comments? It is always useful to receive feedback and helps make this free resource even more useful for Maths teachers anywhere in the world.
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Previous Day | This starter is for 28 March | Next Day

 

Answers

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Extension Activities

Can you make up a similar riddle for a different polygon?

Can you fold an A4 sheet of paper to form a regular pentagon?



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Laptops In Lessons

Teacher, do your students have access to computers such as tablets, iPads or Laptops?  This page was really designed for projection on a whiteboard but if you really want the students to have access to it here is a concise URL for a version of this page without the comments:

Transum.org/go/?Start=March28

However it would be better to assign one of the student interactive activities below.

Laptops In Lessons

Here is the URL which will take them to a polygon naming activity.

Transum.org/go/?to=polygons

Student Activity

See also Polygon Riddle 2 and Polygon Riddle 3.

 


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